Synthetic veneer and process of making same



March 31, 1936..

T. s. REEsE 2,035,761

IC VENEER AND PROCESS OF MAKI NG SAME Filed Sept. 17, 1954 SYNTHET MM 1/1"": 0 I? IN VENTOR. Thomas 5. Reese. BY

Ji Way;

A TTORNE Y.

Patented Mar. 3 1, 1936 UNITED'STATES PATENT OFFICE Thomas S. Reese, Cleveland, Ohio Application September 17,1934, SerialNo. 744,391

5 Claims. (0141-26) This invention relates to the art of decorating and to synthetic veneers.

The decoration of structural materials, as found in furniture and in buildings, for example, has been eifected variously, such as by painting, by plastering and applying wall paper, by natural wood veneers, by decalcomania transfers, by stenciling and in other ways all of which are comparatively expensive because they in- J volve a slow, arts and crafts, technique for pro duction, because they are roundabout, involving steps and materials which are essential to the technique of production but play no part in the final product, and because of the cost of the ma- 5 terials used. Various decorative methods and products have grownup for various uses, each having a technique andinvolving special materials entirely independent of and difierent from one another. Decorative mediums at present in use vary greatly in qualities and cost. Natural wood veneers are highly decorative and durable but inherently expensive. Wall paper is inferior in decorative quality, short-lived, but inexpensive. Painted-and stenciled finishes are intermediate both in quality and cost.

It is an object of this invention to provide a novel decorative process and a novel decorative product which are useful asthe decorative medium for decorating a large variety of structural :0 materials; for furniture, for wall structures, for insulating materials, and which are amenable to efiicient modern mass production technique. It is an object of this invention to provide decorative' products of highest quality, equal to flne i natural wood veneers in decorative quality, which are unlimited in variety of decorative effects, which are equal to or superior to natural wood veneers in durability, and which are comparatively inexpensive, reaching new low levels of lo cost in highly and permanently decorative structural materials, approaching the cost of wall paper more nearly than that of natural wood veneers.

veneered wood stock for decorative purposes l5 consists of a core stock' of inexpensive .wood,

which may be laminated, and a veneer of expensive natural wood. The veneer of fine wood is thin, it is warped in various directions throughout its whole extent, affording an. uneven billowy 50 surface, it is sold in irregular shapes, it cracks, chips and breaks easily, often there are breaks, cracks and knot holes in it. These characteristics in the veneer make itdiflicult to handle in production; expert workmanship is required; 55 the veneer must be. steamed in order to apply it to the core stock; and the losses in scrap and breakage are high. Inmaking a suite of furniture, or in decorating any large area, it is desirable to have a characteristic grain figure throughout and, if the veneer cannot all be sup- 5 plied by one fiitch, much difficulty and expense are incurred in trying to match the grain figure by veneer from, another fiitch. To make matched grain-panels, great care in the selection of the materials and highly expert workmanship 10 is required to match the grain and to apply the veneer to the core stock in matched condition. The scrap involved in making ,veneered wood is high and a large part of the cost originates in the cost of the fine wood veneer and in the difiiculties which attend the application of the veneer to the core stock; difliculties which are rooted in the nature of the natural wood veneer. Efforts have been made to reproduce expensive woods using printing processes to create a design or figure which simulates wood. Efforts to print directly on wood have not met with success for the material is too bulky to handle efliciently and the surface is too uneven to receive good and uniform prints. It has been found possible to prime and surface the plywood core stock and to transfer a decalcomania print onto the surfacer to produce fine wood imitations. However, the nature of the transferring process and the operating conditions for wood fabricating are such as to render it impractical to mount the transfers at the wood working factory. It is impractical to transport the wood to the source.

of transfers, for mounting the transfers, because of transportation costs. 36

It is an object of this invention to provide a novel process for making synthetic veneers which overcome the difllcutlies mentioned and which is low in cost and afiordsa decorative effect of high quality. It is an object of this invention to pro- 4d vide a novel process for making and the syn-' thetic veneer of high quality,great durability,

.and unlimited decorative variety. It is an object of this invention to provide a novel process for making, and the novel product, veneered plywood which is inexpensive and which affords various decorative eifects of high quality and great durability.

Insulating board, such asCelotex and the like,

is an inexpensive-material which is highly porous i and not very stiff or strong. Its use has been limited to insulation chiefly because no satisfactory way to decorate it has been found heretofore. It is so porous that it absorbs large" quantities of paint. Its surface is too rough 56 I and porous for applying wall paper; except that effect.

it be plastered. Itis not practical to apply I transfer decorations for the surface must be coated with a surfacer and the board absorbs too much of the surfacer, making it costly and difiicult to attain a satisfactorysurface on which to apply a transfer decoration. ,Yet, insulating board provided with a suitable low cost, high quality, decoration has a large field of uses.

It is an object of this invention to provide a novel decorative medium for decorating insulating board inexpensively and affording a high quality durable finish. It is an object of this invention to provide a building material having good insulating qualities, long life, adequate strength, affording a beautiful decoration, which is inexpensive, and which may be handled and sold in commerce as a completed material ready "to be'fastened in place as a finished part of a structure. It is also an object of this invention to decorate hard board, such as Masonite, and

other wall boards, such as that known by the trade name Sheet Rock, of hard mineral substance consolidated intosheet form; that known by the trade name Beaver Board, of fibres pressed and consolidated into sheet form; asbestos board, and asphaltum board, inexpensively, beautifully and durably.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear in the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a detail .view, enlarged and in crosssection, of a ply wood core stock decorated according to the practise -of this invention.

According to this invention printing or lithographing are practised for creating the decorative effect. Printing and lithographing are the most eflicient methods for creating beautiful designs in large quantities at low cost, with fidelity of reproduction andhigh quality of decorative In order toconform to the, well established practises for making wood veneers and to provide the fabricator with a material that may be used and handled by the technique and equipment for handling natural wood veneer, according to this invention, a medium is provided to bear the design and to be mounted on the core stock as a natural 'wood veneer would be mounted.

For decorating insulating board, such as Celotex, the surface of the board is not adapted to receive a printed or lithographed design and, according to this invention, a medium is provided to bear the design and to be mounted on the insulating board.

. The medium may vary according to its application or use, if desired, but in the interest of standardized production, and theattendant advantages, itis desirable that, andaccording to this invention, the medium may be the same for bothof the mentioned applications. And, the same medium may be utilized advantageously in decorating other structural materials, such as wall board, exemplified by Masonite, Sheet Rock,

.Beaver Board,- (trade names) asbestos board,

asphaltuin board, and the like. 1

To meet the manufacturing requirements found in the natural wood veneer industry, the medium desirably is of a weight, stiflness,'body, strength, and working qualities comparable with those of natural wood veneer. The surface of insulating board is so highly porous and rough that a heavy medium having sufiicientinherent strength, ltiimess and body not to be modified by the wallboard as core stock, or insulating board as nature of the surface of'the board is desirable. A medium adapted for use with wood core stock and with insulating board also is useful for application to hard board and other base materials.

In order that the decorative finish may be durable'and permanent, in a measure equal to or greater than natural wood veneer, for ex-.

ample, the medium is made heavy; dense, strong and oi' comparatively hard wear resistant materials which are substantially unaifected by weak reagents commonly found in home use and by weathering.

To permit easy and eflicient handling in the printing and lithographing press the medium is desirably pliable and strong while afiording a surface free from rough spots and bulges and otherwise smooth and uniform. The. medium should be uniform in thickness.

, According to this invention, fibre board, a material well-known in the trade, and consisting of rag, paper, and/or wood fibre which has been chemically treated and/or hardened and,

compressed into sheet form, has been found to have the foregoing qualities in adequate measure and is an ideal medium for practising this invention. -In making fibre board, zinc chloride is a commonly used chemical for hardening the fibres; to attain further hardness the fibres may be subjected to an acid bath also. Such fibre board is very strong, dense and durable, being equal or superior to natural wood veneers in those respects. It has a hard, bone-like or horn-like,

- surface. It is pliable in sheets of a weight and thickness approximately that of wood veneer. The fibre board is made with the fibres heterogeneously arranged and has no grain, other than that imparted by calendering, so that it is strong and flexible. in all directions, and is free from any tendency to chip, crack or break. The strength, the lack of grain, and the pliability offibre board make possible calendering of the board so that it has a smooth uniform, non-porous surface well adapted to receive a decoration. The fibre board may be handled in wood working processes and with wood working equipment and tools in the same manner as natural wood veneer, except that it is handled with greater facility and less danger of breaking. The fibre board may be laminated with core stock in the same manner as' natural wood veneer. .The fibre board is an excellent covering medium for insurials, the fibre board having sufficient body, strength, stifi'ness and thickness that it is not modified by contact with the porous rough surface of the board even though it is pressed intoclose contact therewith, in uniting it to the board..

lating board, and similar porous and rough-mate-,

The fibre board is of a thicknessand densitysimboard, which is inherently weak andlacking in strength and rigidity, is' made quite strong and improved by the fibre board while its insulating qualities remain unimpaired.

still by laminating it with fibre board so that its qualities as a structural material are considerably Fibre board is a'comparatively inexpensive material, as a substitute for natural wood veneer, and the resulting product of a wood core stock,

core stock, laminated with the fibre board, is correspondingly inexpensive. The fibre board is very easily handled in thelaminating process, there is little or no waste, so that the cost of manufacture is low.

The fibre board is strong, smooth, pliable, and of a thickness well adapted for passing through printing or lithographing press. The surface of the fibre board does not afiord good adhesion for a print nor a good background. As a background it is too flat, dull and lusterless, and it is not practicalto provide the board in natural colors suitable for background color, since it is too diflicult to maintain standard colors and not practical to provide the'necessary variety of background colors. According to this invention, to afford depth and brilliance of background, to insure good adhesion for the print, and also to provide moisture proof protection, to-

% gether with the requisite variety of background colors without changes in color standards, the surface of the fibre board is prepared to receive the print by applying a surfacer thereto. As determined by the nature of the fibre board, a primer may be applied first and a siufacer on it. Or, a primer-surfacer, a mixture of primer and surfacer compositions, may be used. Or, where the nature of the fibre board permitspa surfacer alone may be applied. The surfacer should contain pigment to afford a background color for the printythus to serve as a ground coat. The term.

surfacer shall be used hereinafter to designate any of the foregoing alternatives. The surfacer serves to form a secure bond with the fibre board, to afiord a good printing surface, and to afiord a background color. The surfacer may be sanded or calendared to eliminate rough spots prior to.printing on it. While the surfacer maybe of conventional composition, it desirably containsa' considerable proportion of pyroxvlin or other cellulose ester, to impart strength to it. A suitable surfacer, containing pyroxylimfor application to fibre board, in practising this invention, is as follows: I

The surfacer should be flexible, to be unaffected by flexing of the board. The suri'acer may be applied to the fibre board in any suitable manner, as by spreading, spraying, or by printing as described in my co'pending application Serial No. 704,323, filed December 28, 1933. The surfacer may be treated in any suitable manner, as its nature requires, to dry it or otherwise to cause its composition to reach a suitable permanent form as a hardened film, and then it maybe sanded or calendared, if desired.

The decoration is formed on the surfacer by relief or intaglio printing or by lithographing,

and standard equipment or methods may be employed for that purpose. Alternatively, the practise disclosed and claimed in my aforesaid pending application, which involves intaglio printing to form both the surfacer film and the figure or design, and which may be utilized for laying down a finish coat, maybe employed for practising this invention.

While printing or lithographing inks well known to the art may be used in practising this invention, it is desirable. to use an ink containing pyroxylin or other cellulose derivative, especially when printing on a surfacer containing pyroxylin or other cellulose derivative since the solvents in the ink act on the pyroxylin in the surfacer to cause the ink and the surfacer to merge, in part at least, and thereby to form a strong secure union. A suitable printing ink for intaglio printing, containing pyroxylin, is as follows:

' Parts by weight R. S. A nitrocellulose 2.00 Blown castor oil 2.00 Dibutylphthalate 2.00 Ester gum. 3.00 Ethyl lactate 10.00 Xylol 14.00 Toiuidine toner 3.25 Talc 1.50

The print may be a wood imitation, especially when building a veneered wood product. Any printable design is available in practising this invention, such as marblefeffects, geometric designs, pictoral and floral scenes, and modernis'tic effects, for example. By affording an unlimited variety of decorative effects, the uses to which the product may be put are greatly enlarged, and public tastes in decorative effects may be more readily and effectively satisfied. By afiording an unlimited variety of decorative effects for insulating board that inexpensivematerial may be put to a large number of new uses thus greatly enlarging its market; Thus new structural materials having new, various and beautiful deco-' rative effects and reaching new low levels of cost are made available by the practise of this invention. The fibre board bearing bearing the surfac'er and print may be mounted in that form or a finish coat may be applied over the print as a part of the veneer manufacturing process. The finish coat may be clear lacquer, varnish or synthetic resin. composition and affords a surface which- .may be highly polished or rubbed either before' or after laminating with the core stock. The finish coat protects the print in subsequent processing.

While the print may be formed on the surfacer by transferring, using the printed decalcomania transfer, if desired; the print in situ afiorded by the practise of this-invention, that is, a print on the material which isto be put into use in that form, has advantages. No intervening materials or operations occur in creating the print and in its application to the surface where it finds use, and the inevitable human errors which detract from the beauty and usefulness of the decoration are minimized. Thus thebest possible decorative effects afforded by printing or lithographing processes are made available bythe practise of this invention.

Where wood imitation effects are to be created,

the naturalness of the effect may be enhanced,

with the nature of the tool used. Embossing ?;difiiculties are encountered in finishing large ranged in register with the figure of the printed 7 tov eliminate this difficulty by first dieing out the Q 'forming the indentations 'board. Alternatively,

. a veneered wood superior both in -to fine wood veneers and is much less costly. The

-,greater facility. 0r, matched ,core stock in sheet form, v bond the two together, and by application of the surfacer, in which casethe indentations and serrations may be deep and may penetrate the the operation may be performed after application of the surfacer, care being taken not to penetrate the surfacer. Or, the

operation may beperformed after printing the design. In any case, the figure aiforded by the serrations and/or indentations should be ardesign. This is essential to insure that the shade and shadow effects naturally associated with the pores of natural wood shall be reproduced in the finished decoration. Such a decoration, made according to the practise of this invention often v cannot be distinguished, by the eye, from natural same or a similar manner.

wood.

Various other relief effects may be made in the The fibre board may be embossed or pressed to form cloth weave effects and geometrical or other figures in relief, the print affording the shades, tones, and colors ;of the'decoration being arranged in register therewith. Although it is not essential, it is desirable first to print the figure and then to emboss or press the relief eii'ect into the fibre board.

The fibre board, or the like, bearing the sur- -,-facer and print, with or without the finish coat,

forms an inexpensive synthetic veneer which may be stored, shipped, sold in commerce, and put to a wide variety of uses. It is well adapted for laminating with wood core stock to make product which'is equal to or durability and decorative efl'ect synthetic veneer of this invention may be mounted on core stock in the same manner as natural ;w0od'veneer. The absence of grain and freedom from-breaking, chipping, or cracking makes the synthetic veneer more easily mounted with less cost. The quantity of the synthetic veneer of" any particular figureis unlimited so that. no

areas in a uniform figure of wood grain. The synthetic veneer may be cut and matched to form matched grain panels in the same manner as the natural wood veneer, but with much grain effects may be printed in making the synthetic veneer. Also, modern decorative effects of any kind are made readily available by the synthetic veneer.

The synthetic veneer may be mounted on the .using an adhesive .to'

heat and pressure to soften the adhesive and pressit into good contactwith the surfaces being united throughout their case of natural woodveneer, and the product whole extent, as in the may be worked by the usual wood working equipment and technique for making various articles.

It has been found that in cutting wood products which have a coat of lacquer surfacer on the surface that the lacquer acts to dull knives rapidly.v This involves considerable expensein time lost for keeping the knives, in condition. The process of this invention may be adapted synthetic veneer, bearing the decoration andhav- 'on fabricated products.

ing a coat of clear lacquer, to the shape desired. The core stock may-be cut to shape in the usual manner and the died-out piece of veneer united to the cut core stock in the usual manner. A saving in material may be effected by this practice since the print and thelacquer coating may be limited substantially to the shape to be cut out:

by the dieing operation. Or, the synthetic veneer may be died-out to predetermined shapes and 'the core stock may be worked into fabricated shapes and the veneer applied to the exposed surfaces thereof. Inasmuch as the synthetic veneer is smooth, even, pliable, lacking in grain,

it may bemounted more readily than natural wood veneers whichrequire the use of high pressures and steam during mounting to overcome the bulges and warps of the wood and to flatten the wood out into complete contact with the core stock. By virtue of the. advantages of the synthetic veneer it may be mounted successfully This entails a saving in'the quantity'of such articles to be kept in stock for a standard article may be made in core mand. Also, the synthetic veneer may be diedout to form and applied as an inlay in inexpensive materials.

Likewise the synthetic veneer of this invention may be mounted on core stock of insulating board in the same manner as on-a-wood core stock. The resulting product is a goodbuilding material having good insulating qualities, adequate strength and rigidity, a beautifully decorated and very durable surface, and yet it reaches new low levels in cost for decorative structural materials. The synthetic veneer adds much strength to theinsulating board and protects it'from moisture and mechanical abuse. making the product long lived. The synthetic veneer may be laminated with wall board in the same manner-and with the same result.

In laminating veneer with such base materials it is desirable, and essential in the case of soft materials such as insulating board, to apply the veneer to both sides of the core stock to make a symmetrical structure and to avoid uneven stock form and any synthetic veneer may be .selected for mounting thereon, according to destresses which would warp the product. According to this invention, the fibre board, unfinished,

maybe mounted on one side thus saving the cost of the decorating process. Or, the veneer on the unseen side may be coated with suitable.

lacquer or enamel to provide moisture proof protection and, if desired, to afford a conventional color. Where the synthetic veneer is used to decorate fabricated materials, it may be suitable to apply it to one surface only, the structure of the article affording to resist warping tendencies.

As shown in the drawing, the core stock I, consisting of a plurality of laminations, although adequate rigidity it may be of one piece, if-desired, is linked, by

adhesive 2, to the synthetic veneer 3. Thesyn-.

thetic veneer I bears the surfaeer I and print I overlaid by the clear lacquer-film i. As shown in the drawing, the synthetic veneer, in decorated form, is laminated to one side of the .core stock only. A-lamination l of the fibre board is united with theopposite side of the core stock to form a symmetrical structure so that the stresses due to the laminations will be balanced and will not warp the board. Where-the use of the product requires, the decorated-form of the synthetic veneer may be applied to both sides of the core stock. 1

scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

What I claim as my invention is as follows:

1. An article of manufacture comprising a sheet of base material, a synthetic veneer adhesively united to the base material, the synthetic veneer consisting of fibre board having a surfacer thereon and a print on the surfacer.

2. An article of manufacture comprising a sheet of base material, a synthetic veneer adhesively united to the base material, the synthetic veneer consisting of fibre board having a surfacer thereon, a print on the surfacer, a coat of clear finish over the print.

3. An article of manufacture comprising a sheet of base material, a synthetic veneer ad- 1 hesively united to the base material, the synthetic veneer-consisting of fibre board having a surfacer thereon, a print in situ on the suriacer, a coat of clear finish over the print.

4. The method of making structural materials which comprises preparing synthetic veneer by coating fibre board with a, surfacer, printing a design on the surfacer, coating over the design in a clear finish, dieing out a piece of predetermined shape of the veneer, uniting the piece to a base material by an adhesive.

5. The method of making structural materials which comprises preparing synthetic veneer by coating fibre board with a surfacer, printing a design on the surfacer, coating over the design in clear finish, dieing out a piece of the veneer in predetermined shape, cutting base material to corresponding shape, uniting the piece of veneer to the-cut base material by an-adhesive.

THOMAS REESE. 

